Heroine's journey
A female-centric narrative template for psycho-spiritual growth.
Maureen Murdock, a Jungian psychotherapist and student of Joseph Campbell, developed this model in her 1990 book The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness.[1] A narrative template centered on female experience, the heroine's journey offers an alternative to the conventional hero's journey structure.[1] While treating her female patients, Murdock formulated this guide.[1]
Quick Facts
- Originator
- Maureen Murdock
- Year of origin
- 1990
- Original book
- The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness
- Alternative version author
- Victoria Lynn Schmidt
- Alternative version year
- 2001
- Alternative version book
- 45 Master Characters
- Languages published in
- 7
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
The model describes a psycho-spiritual journey with a cycle of eight stages.[2] Campbell reportedly stated, "Women don't need to make the journey, they are the place that everyone is trying to get to".[3] The initial phase of the journey involves the heroine separating from feminine ideals and adopting patriarchal values.[4] The final stages of the journey involve a merging of masculine and feminine principles.[4]
In 2001, Victoria Lynn Schmidt released her own version of the heroine's journey within her work 45 Master Characters.[5] For writing purposes, Schmidt's version sees more frequent application than Murdock's does.[5] In a private discussion, Joseph Campbell told Murdock that her model was an unnecessary addition and rejected it.[6]
What the cited sources add
The Heroine Journeys Project account states that Murdock developed her model based on her work with women in therapy.[7] Winkle explains that the heroine's journey is particularly suited for character arcs, quests for identity, and themes of privilege and oppression.[8] Winkle notes that the heroine must find balance as she struggles between the sides of a duality.[8] The Heroine Journeys Project describes that the heroine's journey continues after the "boon of success," unlike the hero's journey.[7]
The Heroine Journeys Project account adds that the heroine heals the mother/daughter split and reclaims initial values from a new perspective.[7] Winkle explains that in the first stage, the heroine chooses the masculine over the feminine and grows to resent her connection to the feminine.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Heroine's journey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Murdock, "Encyclopedia of psychology and religion", Springer, 2010; Davis, "Maureen Murdock", Jung Society of Atlanta, 2005 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Heroine's journey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Murdock, "Encyclopedia of psychology and religion", Springer, 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Heroine's journey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Davis, "Maureen Murdock", Jung Society of Atlanta, 2005 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Heroine's journey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Murdock, "Encyclopedia of psychology and religion", Springer, 2010; Murdock, "Encyclopedia of psychology and religion", Springer, 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Heroine's journey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Paton, "How to Rescue Your Heroine's Unique Character Arc", The Writing Cooperative, 2017-05-24 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Heroine's journey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Davis, "Maureen Murdock", Jung Society of Atlanta, 2005; Miyamoto, "Why Screenwriters Should Embrace The Heroine's Journey", ScreenCraft, 2017-06-19; Davis, "Maureen Murdock", Jung Society of Atlanta, 2005; Davis, "Maureen Murdock", Jung Society of Atlanta, 2005 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Maureen Murdock's Heroine's Journey Arc", The Heroine Journeys Project, 2015-02-12. facts only, no text reused. heroinejourneys.com
- Winkle, "Using the Heroine's Journey", Mythcreants, 2014-09-26. facts only, no text reused. mythcreants.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Heroine's journey (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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